Assembled and uniformed to arrive at the Cowra Sportsperson of the Year, it didn't take too long before last year's Premiership Magpies realised there was a reason they were all dressed up.
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Especially once they read the program.
They were the 2018-19 team of the year, with award presenter Lisa Robertson noting that the team, who beat the Bathurst Panthers in a 12-6 Grand Final victory, narrowly beat out their senior men's counterparts, who made the Grand Final but lost to the senior men's carnation of the Panthers.
According to co-coach Ken McNamara, it was the first time a Cowra team had won a rugby league grand final on Sid Kallas Oval since 1995, when the Magpies defeated the Bathurst Penguins.
After Robertson formally announced the presentation of the award, co-coach McNamara, speaking on behalf of himself and fellow coaches Dean Murray and Craig Negus, said the award was just rewards for a season of hard work.
We all set a goal at the start of the year [2018] and that goal was to be faster, fitter and stronger.
- Cowra Magpies Under 14s co-coach, Ken McNamara
"I certainly agree with the decision for our team because I... know how hard they have worked in 2018 to achieve their goals for the year," he said.
Motioning towards the fact that the playing group lost their 2017 Grand Final to Orange Bloomfield, McNamara noted the drive within the playing group following that loss.
"We all set a goal at the start of the year [2018] and that goal was to be faster, fitter and stronger," McNamara, who is a school principal at Saint Edward's in Canowindra, said.
"For our adults and our coaches, and for sportspeople that are in this room, [they] would understand that those words can change over to be discipline, commitment and attitude.
"They were some of these attitudes we tried to instill in these young boys."
Captain Leroy Murray, speaking of behalf of the playing group, also echoed this sentiment.
"In 2018 we trained really hard to achieve our goal," he said, adding that the group remember the little things about the day - breakfast with families, the cheers heard as they walked down the street - the most.
"It was a fantastic effort by all of our players...We will all remember how perfect grand final day was."
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